MacGyver (2016 series)
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series developed by Peter M. Lenkov and starring Lucas Till as the title character. It is a reboot of the ABC series of the same name created by Lee David Zlotoff, which aired from 1985 to 1992. (Till had yet to be born when the original MacGyver premiered.) The series premiered from CBS on September 23, 2016. On April 18, 2018, CBS renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on September 28, 2018. In May 2019, the series was renewed for a fourth season by CBS, which was premiered on February 7, 2020. Cast Main Current *Lucas Till as Angus MacGyver *Tristin Mays as Riley Davis *Justin Hires as Wilt Bozer *Meredith Eaton as Matilda Webber (Season 1, episode 13–present) *Levy Tran as Desiree "Desi" Nguyen (Season 4–present, recurring Season 3) *Henry Ian Cusick as Russ Taylor (Season 4–present) Former *George Eads as Jack Dalton (Season 1–3) *Sandrine Holt as Patricia Thornton (Season 1, episodes 1–12) *Isabel Lucas as Samantha Cage (Season 2, episodes 1–11) Recurring *Tracy Spiridakos as Nikki Carpenter *Amy Acker as Sarah Adler *Aina Dumlao as Andie Lee *David Dastmalchian as Murdoc *Kate Bond as Jill Morgan *Lauren Vélez as Cassandra Glover *Reign Edwards as Leanna Martin *William Baldwin as Elwood Davis *Lance Gross as Billy Colton *Tate Donovan as James MacGyver/"Oversight" *Sibongile Mlambo as Nasha *Brendan Hines as Ethan Reigns *Jeri Ryan as Gwendolyn Hayes Special Guest Navy SEALs * Daniel Dae Kim as Chin Ho Kelly * Grace Park as Kono Kalakaua * Taylor Wily as Kamekona Tupuola Episodes Production Development In October 2015, the original series' executive producer, Henry Winkler, signed on to produce a remake series with James Wan and R. Scott Gemmill for CBS, which owns the rights to MacGyver through its acquisition of the original Paramount Television. In February 2016, it was announced that CBS had greenlit production of a pilot episode written by Paul Downs Colaizzo and directed by Wan. Wan pulled out from directing due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by David Von Ancken. In May 2016, the network picked up the series. Co-creator and executive producer Peter M. Lenkov will serve as the showrunner. On May 18, 2016, CBS released a first video trailer for new series. In June 2016, the network scrapped the original pilot, with Wan to direct a new pilot episode. On October 17, 2016, CBS ordered a full season of 21 episodes. On March 23, 2017, CBS renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on September 29, 2017. On March 23, 2017, CBS renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on September 29, 2017. On May 9, 2019, it was announced that CBS renewed the series for a fourth season which will premiere on February 7, 2020. Casting In March 2016, Lucas Till was announced as the new MacGyver, Joshua Boone as Gunner, MacGyver's best friend from high school, alongside with former and longtime CSI star George Eads as Jack Dalton, who was originally named Lincoln, a man who could easily be written off as an eccentric conspiracy theorist but is a legitimate government employee with great capability for compassion. Later cast were Addison Timlin as Mickey, an app developer who is aggressively progressive in her political views but who has a soft spot for MacGyver, and Michelle Krusiec as Agent Croix, Dalton's sister who works for the Department of Homeland Security. However, the original pilot with this casting was scrapped by CBS in June 2016 – a new pilot episode was ordered with only Till and Eads from the original cast continuing on to the revised version of the show. Around the same time the new pilot was ordered, Justin Hires was cast as Wilt Bozer, MacGyver's roommate who is an aspiring filmmaker. In July 2016, Variety reported that Sandrine Holt had been cast as Patricia Thornton, an ex-field agent who was the director of operations for the Department of External Services, and that Tristin Mays was cast as Riley Davis, a highly unpredictable computer hacker with a chip on her shoulder. On November 26, it was announced that George Eads was set to depart the series midway through the show's current third season. According to creator Peter M. Lenkov, Eads had asked to be released from his contract for some time so he could spend more time with his young daughter who resides in Los Angeles; the series is filmed in Atlanta. Producers ultimately agreed with Eads being written out of the show but left the opportunity for him to return as a guest star in the future. His final episode aired on February 1, 2019.Deadline Levy Tran was cast in a recurring role as Desiree Nguyen to replace Eads, then on June 7, 2019, CBS announced that recurring cast member Levy Tran ran who portrays MacGyver co-leader Desi Nguyen has been upped to a series regular for the fourth season. Reception Critical response MacGyver has received generally negative reviews from television critics, with many comparing it poorly to the original and some praising and criticizing CBS for making it an updated show. Variety wrote: "Lucas Till’s performance as the title character misses the mark completely; even when MacGyver explains the contraptions he builds on the fly via voiceovers, Till’s delivery is wooden and clunky. The writing doesn’t help — the pilot script is full of silly plot short-cuts and painfully cheesy lines — but there’s no getting around the fact that the new version of the character has very little appeal.... George Eads does what he can to bring a bit of energy to the MacGyver spy crew, but it’s a futile effort. MacGyver may know a lot about chemistry, but this unmemorable team has none." USA Today wrote: "If... you’re looking for something approaching the original’s simple DIY charms — or, for that matter, something even marginally original — look elsewhere. What you're getting here is a factory-made retread that is less MacGyver than MacGyver: Impossible, with the title character now just one member of an impossible mission team.... MacGyver may not fully engage you, but at least it won't actively annoy you." IGN's verdict was: "CBS' MacGyver is an unnecessary, middling reboot that has little to offer - its biggest sin being a bland hero and eye-rolling stakes. Lifting more than a few swerves from the Mission Impossible franchise, this new MacGyver somehow even manages to make the science gimmick dull." Rotten Tomatoes shows a 25% "rotten" rating for Season 1 and a 57% audience score, with the sites critical consensus reading, "Despite using spare parts from countless successful TV procedurals, the new MacGyver fails to cobble together a compelling show." The audience score for Season 2 is much higher, at 82%. Similarly, Metacritic shows a score of 38 out of 100, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". The Metacritic score for Season 2 is more positive, with a score of 61 out of 100. Movie Pilot was more positive, commending Till's performance while noting that the show does a good job of "maintaining the essence of the original while appealing to a modern generation". Home media MacGyver's vehicles Angus MacGyver References External links * MacGyver on Wikipedia * MacGyver on Television Wiki * MacGyver on IMDb Category:TV series